A Twoleg
The first book in the Twoleg Clans Series. Blurb: "the time is near, when all cats must learn to coperate with other animals, to let strangeness join their ranks, to save the warrior code." When Berrytail recives a strange prophecy saying that the Clans will have let strangeness join their ranks, he is puzzled. This prophecy doesn't makes sense! How could things get any stranger with cats disappearing and all this dead prey laying around? then the peices of the puzzle slowly fall together when he finds a female twoleg kit stumbling into ThunderClan camp. Emma, the twoleg kit, had no where to live and stays with the clan, strange as that was, but at night the twoleg dissapears and reappears shortly before morning. Berrytail knows something is up, and this strange twoleg that has joined ThunderClan might have something to do with the odd prophecy he had gotten. Allegensices: ThunderClan Leader: Bellstar: Ginger she-cat with green eyes. Deputy: Barenland: Brown tom with no markings and hazel eyes. Medicine Cat: Berrytail: white and black tom. Warriors: Shakenpelt: black, gray, and tan tortiseshell tom. Snakefang: A dark tabby tom with golden speckles Braveclaw: black tom with unusally long claws. Frecklepelt: ''white she-cat with black speckles. ''Sunspeckle: Brown she-cat with golden speckles and a few tabby stripes. Lionfish: ginger tom with white tabby marks, like a lion fish. Moonstream: silver she-cat with black tabby stripes. Featherfoot: gray she-cat with feathery long fur around her feet. Silvermoon: silver she-cat with black spots that look like moons. Apprentices: ''Purplepaw:'' whtie she-cat with violet eyes. Blazepaw: stunning orange tom with blazing green eyes. Queens: Bluefish: ''blue-gray she-cat with yellow eyes. '''kits:' Yellowkit: golden she-cat with yellow eyes. Mother: Bluefish. Bluekit: blue-gray she-cat with a white belly. Snowkit: White tom with blue eyes Elders:'' Owltalon'': Brown she-cat with black stripes. Chapter 1 Berrytail purred as he saw Snowkit sleeping outside his den. He must have snuck away from Bluefish and fallen alseep while attempting to sneak into the medicine cat den. He twitched his whiskers with amusement as Snowkit wriggled, like he was being attacked in his dream. Berrytail picked up the kits and padded into the nursery. "Wake up, Bluefish." he meowed, prodding Teh blue-gray queen. She woke up. "what's going on?" she asked Berrytail, blinking sleep form her eyes. Berrytail dropped Snowkit next to Bluefish. "I think you lost this." he twitched his whiskers with amusement. Bluefish purred happily and poked Snowkit closer to her with her nose. "Thank you, Berrytail." Bluefish meowed, then lay down and fell back asleep. Berrytail padded out of the nursery and lay down in his own nest. It was moonhigh, and every cat was asleep,, excluding Sunspeckle, who was guarding the camp entrance. Berrytail still could not sleep. He just lay down in his comfortable nest and closed his eyes. He slowly drifted away into sleep... Emma was crying. She sat in her room, on her bed, crying silently into her hands. She heaved the sobs, tears running down her arms and onto he rbed, making wet spots all over the sheet. She was locked in her room. Her father had punished her and reversed the lock on her door. Every once in awhile, her father would slide a small bowl of cold soup under the door. Sounds like you need context, right? Well, here it is; Emma's father, George, was always abusive. He abused Emma, her mother, and even their dog before he killed it. Emma's mother, Kailey, was a wonderful woman. she divorced George and made him move out after he killed the dog. The dog made him angry, so he kicked it out the fence door and it ran away and got hit by a car. He didn't care in the slightest that he had killed a cherised family member, so KAiley threw him out. But when Kailey died in a car accident, Emma had to live with her father. And now he kept her locked in her room each day, almost starving. Whenever she was let out, she was beaten if she did anything wrong. She was coated with brusies and cuts. However, he forced her to put on a long dress to make sure no one could see her bruises then made her put on a happy child act if there was company. the reason she was crying was, of course, she missed her mother. Her mother would have snuck her out and saved her from George. Emma just wanted to leave, to be far away from her father. Her mother hadn't hated her because she was... well.. strange. Her mother was... strange.. too, and she accepted her daughter because she loved her. But not her father. Emma had long, pretty blonde hair and was wearing the same long blue dress as she had been wearing for a long time. She had green eyes and her skin was pale. She lay down on her bed and attempted to fall asleep, but couldn't. She thoguht she saw a small cat on her windowsill, scratching at the glass. She got up and got a better look. There was diffently a pretty gray cat outsid eher window. she bent down to open the window, put when it was opened the cat was gone. Emma checked the floor under hte door to make sure her father wasn't coming, then pushed the screen out. She was surprised her father had let her escape so easily. She jumped out the window, landed in a lilac bush, and ran away. Chapter 2 Berrytail was in StarClan. His mother, Blacksky, was padding down from the sky towards him. She ruffled out her black pelt then smoothed her fur out. "Hello, Berrytail." she meowed. "I have a message for you." "Yes?" Berrytail mewoed. He settled down, waiting for his motehr to tell him the message form Starclan. "the time is near, when all cats must learn to coperate with other animals, to let strangeness join their ranks, to save the warrior code." Blacksky meowed. she dramticly touched Berrytail's nose and he felt coldness. Then he startled awake. Sankefang was stumbling into his den. "what happened?!" Berrytail asked, concern in his voice. "Badger." Lionfish meowed, stumbling in after snakefang and dragging Purplepaw behind him. "You need to look at Purplepaw first, the Badger flung her at a tree and she's out cold." Berrytail ran quickly over to Purplepaw and shoved his muzzle into her fur. "I feel a pulse, she's alive." Berrytail started to treat Lionfish and Snakefang. Emma gazed at her hands. It was happening again. Her nails were growing longer, into claws. She closed her eyes and hid in a bush nearby, at the edge of hte forest. she lay there and fell asleep, hoping her father wouldn't find her. emma woke up. It was morning, and her nails were no longer claws. She blinked and saw her father leaning over her. "How did you escape?!" he screamed at her. "Get back to the house!" He pulled her up by the hair and punched her in the face and dragged her away. Emma pulled her self away and ran from he rfather. George screamed and ran after her. Emma kept crying out of her swelling eye, holding up her dress, she kept running. George had left her a long time ago, but Emma kept running. She ran on and on, until her legs gave way and she fell into a clearing. The clearing was full of cats, and she fell right into the middle of it. She lay there, crying, as the cats gathered around her. Chapter 3 Berrytail was stunned. A female twoleg kit had just tumbled into camp, water running down her face. She had ripped through the cave wall and crushed the tunnel to the medicine cat den. "Evacuate camp!" he sturggled to say it. Cats ran and Berrytail help drag Purplepaw away. Behind them Snakefang dragged a broken leg. then the water dried on the girl's face and she realized where she was. She sat up, looked aorund in circles, and was amazed. Emma was amazed. The cats here had seemed to build themselves a town. they all lived in this small placce, and there was a pile of mice and birds in the center of the 'town'. Then she saw a dark tabby tom stumbling on a broken leg. "There's no need to leave." she meowed, in cat talk. "You're hurt, you need to stay where it's safe." Everything went silent. Berrytail stopped mid-step. The result was that he and Lionfish accidently dropped Purplepaw's unconsious body. Every cat turned and gazed at the twoleg, their mouths wide open. they were all shocked. This twoleg was speaking cat! And It was saying it wasn't a danger to them, eventhoguh it had just crushed half their camp. the twoleg frowned. "What?" she asked. "Is there something wrong?" "H-H-How?" Blazepaw broke the silence, struggling to speak. "Y-Y-Y-Y-" "you speak cat!" Berrytail burst out, not waiting for Blazepaw to stutter the whoel question. "Yeah." The twoleg shurgged. "so what?" "No twolegs can speak cat!" Bellstar meowed. "Are oyu some sort of super creature, sent by StarClan?!" "S-StarClan?" The twoleg asked. "What's that?" "The afterlife." Berrytail meowed. "where Clan cats go when they die, to watch over the living cats and help them survive. What is your name, twoleg?" "Emma." the twoleg meowed, in cat talk obviously. "My name is emma." "My name is Berrytail. I am Medicine cat of ThunderClan" Berrytail meowed. "For this is Thunerclan camp you have just demolished." "Sorry about that..." emaa scratched her head with one of her dainty hands. "I was upset and i didn't know where I was going." "It's okay." Bellstar meowed, to the shock of the clan. But the Clan felt better after she added, "IF you help us repair it before you're on your way." "Of course." Emma said, then frowned again. "of course, I must add something. I've jus trun away fromt he only home i have. I would apprecitae it much if i could stay with you cats for a long while." Bellstar considered it. "I will take a trip to the Moonstone to check up on this. It will be decided after you repair the dammage you have done to ThunderClan's camp." "Of course." emma nodded. "I'll start in the morning. I'll find somewhere to sleep." Emma got up and wlaked off on her tall, two legs. "Are you sure this is wise, Bellstar?" Barenland asked. "Letting a twoleg stay with us is aganist every code i can think of! Even if the twoleg speaks cat. I'm pretty sure there's no code saying, 'if there's a twoleg that speaks cat, you must welcome it gracouisly into your clan!'" "Like i said, Barenland, I shall consult StarClan abotu this. Discussion over." she flicked her puffy tail and padded into what was lef tof her den. chapter 4 "Berrytail!" someone cried. "It's happened again!" Berrytail ran out from his herb store to find Purplepaw crying with Silvermoon lying dead at her feet. "What could have possibly killed all these cats?" Berrytail exclaimed, swallowing greif. "I bet that twoleg did it!" Purplepaw cried, lost in grief. "Hey, you can't blame me!" Emma snapped, tears glinting in her eyes. "I wasn't even in camp when she died! I was off trying to find more branches for the nursery!" "I was a witness, I was with her." Said Lionfish, padding over to comfort Purplepaw. "You can't jump to conclusions." "After all, this wa shappening before Emma crashed into our camp." said Berrytail. He examined the she-cat, but found nothing but a tuft of gray and brown fur under her claws. No claw marks, no bleeding wounds. The scent was even smothered. the fur would have been a good clue, but there were no brown and gray tortiseshells in ThunderClan. "where was she found?" asked Lionfish, noticing Berrytail's find. "S-s-s" but Purplepaw couldn't speak anymore. then she swallowed and muttered, "She was just in her den." "How odd, just like Brownfeather and Greengrass." mummered Berrytail. "And they had browna nd gray tortiseshell fur under their claws, too." Then Frecklepelt and Moonstream burst into camp. "There's more dead prey laying around. It's like they just drop dead!" exclaimed Frecklepelt. "And Featherfoot's missing!" Moonstream added. "Does the Twoleg have a witness?" asked Barenland. "She's already been proven innocent, Barenland." Lionfish stepped forward. "If you ask me, we're to fast to blame the twoleg for whatever goes wrong." "I agree." said Berrytail, glancing up at Emma. the twoleg girl was striken. "D-Does this stuff happen often?" she whispered, frightened. "Sadly," Said berrytail, whisking around to get some herbs to prepare Silvermoon's body for vigil. "All the time." Chapter 5 Berrytail woke in the dead of night, his nose pressed into Silvermoon's fur. He must have fallen asleep. He heard a rustling, and padded over to where he had heard it. He slipped through a gap in the camp's protective walls, and crawled carefully throguh a bramble patch outside it. He noticed how there were black and various shades of gray fur stuck to the thorns. He emerged in the clearing where Emma had constructed her den. It was a small clearing, and emma had created a cute little twoleg den out of it. It shield from rain and other such things, Emma had taken some sort of fluffy, twoleg material and used thorns to tack it to the trees, so it served as a roof over the clearing. The floor was clean-ish, Emma had sweeped the twigs, leaves, and brambles from the ground and had put a flat rock that Emma had cleaned in the river in the center of the clearing, and had it covered with pine needles collected from the borders of ShadowClan. On top of the leaves was more of the fluffy material, and Emma would lay on that with more flufy material on top of her. "I wonder why she would need so much fluffy stuff." commented Berrytail. "But i suppose she gets cold at night with no fur." On part of the clearing with no roof over it, Emma had dug a small pit and lined it with rocks. This was where she would start a fire, but had never really explained to berrytail why she would ever want to star one. She had comforted him that it was mostly for the heat on cold nights, and that the pit was so it would not spread. Emma said that she would build a 'chimney' whne she was done with the camp, but berrytail nor any othe rcat had any idea what that was. Emma had found long strips of bark from birch trees, and had started constructing walls for safety . Her plan was to have piles of mud, then put the bark on, then more mud, then more bark, until she had a strong wall. Berrytail padded over to Emma's nest, and found that it was empty. Had the twoleg gone for a night time stroll? Then he noticed the flick of a gray tortiseshell tail. He turned and saw a gray tortiseshell she-cat standing the wall, or what there was of the wall. "Hey, loner." Berrytail said, extending his claws. "This is Emma's den, out." Strangely enough, the she-cat turned and whisked away without a second warning. Berrytail rasied his eyebrows then turned and padded away. That was odd. He thought.'' Very, very odd.'' Chapter 6 Emma woke up with pain in her hands. She blinked open her eyes, and wondered where she was for a second. She sat up in her bed, only to realize it wasn't her bed. She was in the clearing, her clearing, that she had made into a 'den'. Her makeshift bed was more comfortable than her old one. She remembered ThunderClan, and jumped up to go help rebuild the camp. Then she noticed the pain in her hands and arms. She saw little thorns sticking out of her hands. "Of course, from last night." she said aloud to herself, and picked them from her skin. She ignored the pain, wrapped up her hand in leafs, and tossed the thorns away. She stood, stretched, and ran out of her clearing. She arrived at camp just in time, as Barenland was wondering if he should send someone to go get her. "You have an odd sleeping schedule." Barenland muttered as she jumped into the camp. She couldn't fit into the tunnel, obviously, but she could jump over the walls. "What should i do?" she asked, clapping her hands. "You can finish the nursery." Barenland said, flickign his tail. Emma walked over to the nursery, sat down, and started weaving the branches an d brambles into place. "She may be a twoleg, but she works quickly." Berrytail said, walking by the deputy. "but she's still a twoleg." Barenland said, not moved at all. Berrytail rolled his eyes and padded out the tunnel to go hunting for herbs. Emma saw Bluefish nearby, playing with her kits. "Hello, kittens." Emma said to the kits. "What are your names?" "I'm Yellowkit!" said one excitedly, bouncing over to Emma. "And this is my sister, Bluekit, and my brother, Snowkit." "Aww, why don't you have names like Barenland and Berrytail?" Emma asked. "We don't get names like that until we're warriors!" Snowkit said, tripping over his own feet. "Well, I guess I can be considered a kit to this clan,as I am new. Maybe i should get a cool kit name, too." She said jokingly. "Oh oh! you should be named Rosekit!' Yellowkit said, bouncing up and down. "Nice name! I like that one!" said Emma. Bluefish padded over, looking pout that her kits were getting along with a twoleg. "Shouldn't you be working on the nursery, Rosekit?" she snapped, and rushed her kits away. emma sighed and continued her work. Bellstar paced her den. Back, and forth. Back, and forth. She was thinking aloud to herself. "Berrytail... Barenland... She's reliable... She's already made herself a den..." What she was pondering was if emma could be trusted enough to help the clan with whatever was killing hte cats, before anything else could happen. She glanced out her den to find that Emma was getting along with the kits well. She smiled, remembering when she was a kit. Then remembered her dilemma, and went back to pacing. Barenland frowned at Emma, then saw Bellstar stick her head out of her den for a moment. He knew that face. She was pondering something. He padded hurridly over to her den and, after getting invited in, confronted Bellstar. "You cannot seriously be considering letting that Twoleg get involved with clan business, are you?" He snapped, then remembered he was talking to his leader, and softened his voice. "Shes a twoleg, Bellstar. A TWOLEG. clans are for cats, and cats only. I understand that sometimes a kittypet is tough enough to become a strong warrior, but a twoleg? It's impossible, and StarClan won't allow it." Bellstar stared at Barenland for a moment, then answered. "Barenland, That twoleg is more than just a twoleg. I sense something in her, and I'm sure Starclan can sense it too, and if they want it to happen, who am i to stop them?" Chapter 7 Berrytail returned later to find Emma playing with the kits. She had found some feathers, tied them together with a bramble tendril, then tied it to a branch with another bramble tendril. She was waving it slwoly above the kits, and when it was directly abvoe them, each kit would jump at it and try to knock it out of her hand. Berrytail could tell she was intentinally dropping the stick at one point becuase the kits were to light to take it from her. "I caught the bird!" Bluekit exclaimed with happiness as she picked up the stick from the ground. "I caught the birdy! I beat the twoleg!" Bluekit handed the stick back to Emma after a victory dance, and joined her brother and sister standing underneath the stick. Berrytail couldn't help but chuckle. That twoleg had a heart, even if she wasn't a cat. "Did you finish the nursery?" Berrytail aske dher as he passed. "Yes,'' mom''." emma said in a joking way. Berrytail rolled his eyes and padded away. "Rosey!" Bluekit purred happily when she found Emma. She was in Emma's Clearing, and she had found Emma working on her walls. "Bluekit!" Emma gasped. "Where's Bluefish? Are you supposed to be away from camp?" "It's ok, I'm with her." Snakefang said, pushing his head into Emma's Clearing. "We're here too!" Yellowkit and Snowkit burst into the clearing. "Can we help build your den?" Yellowkit asked, bouncing up and down. "Sorry, but this is Twoleg job. I've gotten it too high, not even Snakefang could help me with it now." Emma said apoligetically. "I don't see why you go through the trouble." Snakefang said, padding over to the wall in progress. "I think if Bellstar doesn't kick you off the territory soon, Barenland will." emma frowned, laying another peice of bark on the mud she was using to build the walls. She had changed her plan a bit; she was going to build the walls completely with mud, then stick the bark on it like wallpaper, to hide it easier and so it wouldn't look so messy. She was also going to line to outside part of it with brambles and bracken to make it look more natural. "I'm not afraid of Barenland. He's the kind of boy I know. He acts tough, but is really kind, deep down. Ethier that or he's a big talker and a little do-er." "Big talker and little do-er?" Snakefang asked, raising and eyebrow. "It means he talks tough but is a coward when it comes to time to actually do soemthing." "Barenland's anything but a coward." Snakefang sighed. "Hey!" Yellowkit said. "What's this stuff?" "It's called comforter." emma chuckled. "I use it as a blanket. we twolegs don't have fur, so we need to find other ways to stay warm at night." "really?" Yellowkit sniffed the conforter on emma's makeshift bed. She slipped and tumbled onto the clean-ish floor of the clearing. "nice footing, yellowkit." Snowkit sniggered. "shush, you!" Yellowkit said, fligging a stick at him. "Settle down." Snakefang said calmly. Emma giggled at the kits, then added another layer of mud to the wall. She slapped some more bark on it, on both sides, then lined the top with bark. She stood back, admiring her handiwork. then she turned to the firepit, picked up a stick that hadn't burned, then stuck it on the far left side of the wall. She put another one at the other end. "One wall done. Now three more, but the last will be diffucult. I will need a door for me to fit through, and I will need some sort of cover to put over it to prevent anything unwelcome sneaking in late at night." "You twolegs really need furnished dens." Snakefang sighed. "All we need is a small den with bramble wrapped around it and a little nest." "Can I have a den like this when I'ma warrior?" snowkit asked. "No, dungbrain." Bluekit said. "there isn't enough forest for everyone to hae dens like this." Emma giggled again then started work on the next wall. She picked up the bucket she had found and filled with mud, and started building small brick-like things and laying them in layers on the ground. The start of the next wall. After awhile, she stuck more peices of bark on the wall. Then she stood, smilied at Snakefang, and said, "Anyone else hunngry?" "I don't eat twoelg food." Snakefang said, surling his lip in disgust. "Im hungry! Can we have some?" yellowkit mewled. "I'm not going to eat twoleg food, exactly." Said Emma. "I'm going to hunt, I don't have any twoleg food left." "A twoleg, hunt?" snakefang snorted. "I have a trick." Emma said. "And I only eat birds. Other animals, like mice and voles, don't appeal to twolegs' stomachs." Chapter 8 Emma sat and waited, her trap set. It was the most standard trap anyone had ever set. She had simply stuck a stick in the ground, tied some worms to it with a bramble tendril, and fashioned a cage out of twigs and tree bark. She hung the cage in the tree above the stick by tying a rope she had found in a twoleg garbage can on the top, then swinging the rop over the branch. She then stuck the rope under the bramble tendril that was holding the worms. This trap would work like this; the bird would would see the worms, fly down, then grab the worms. The bird would pull at the worms, which would loosen the bramble tendril, allowing the rope to snap up. The rope would be pulled up, letting the cage fall over the bird before it would say, "CHIRP?" Emma grew bored after a moment or two, and went back to making her walls. Snakefang and the kits had already gone back to camp, so she was once again alone in her clearing. She got her hands, which she had just cleaned in the river, all muddy again. After she had the wall almost done and the sun was starting to set, she cleaned her hands and checked on her trap. She sighed when she found that the trap was empty. She walked back to camp to check on Bellstar and Berrytail before she went to bed. "Hey Emma." Berrytail said when Emma stepped into camp. "Catch anything?" "Nope." She said. "Twoleg traps are hard to make, and dn't work to well. But without a gun or spear I don't think I'll be able to do anything else." "gun? Spear?" Berrytail asked, unfamilair witht he words. "Er.. Hunting weapons." Said Emma. "a spear is a stick with a sharp stone on the end, and a gun is a metal tube-ish thing that shoots metal at the animal you're hunting." "Twolegs." Berrytail sighed. "I normally don't approve of hunting." emma sighed, sitting down next to berrytail. "Don't approve?!" Berrytail said, jumping back. "How do you survive if you don't approve of hunting?" "Humans grow fruit and vegtables." emma said. "And The reason I don't like hunting is... well... twolegs are vicous. They only kill animals for fun. They make them into decorations to hang on the walls of their dens. But I hate that, I don't think that people should hunt if we don't need it to survive. what's worse, some people raise animals just so they can kill them and sell them." "Twoelgs are terrible!" Brrytail exclaimed. "I know, but Twolegs are stubborn, too. they wouldn't change their ways, ever. they also pollute the air with the smoke from factories and the exust from cars." "Cars? Facorties?" "Factories are hard to explain, but cars are simple. You know what you call the 'Thunderpath'? Twolegs call that the road, and the monsters on it aren't alive, they're made out of metal, and twolegs use them to get to other places faster than walking." 'Twolegs are odd." Berrytail sighed. He shook his head and padded into his den. Emma looked around and saw Bellstar smiling at the exchange between her and Berrytail. "Hello, Bellstar. Are you satisfied on how well i repaired camp?" she asked, crawling on hands and knees over to her. "You've done well, Emma." Bellstar said. And some of the cats are really starting to trust you. I know Berrytail trusts you, he probably even thinks of you as his friend, although he probably wont admit it. And Snakefang is getting used to you, and the kits adore you. Even Bluefish is starting to trust you to look after her kits." Bellstar was interupted by a loud growling from emma's stomach. "I haven't eaten in a long time." emma explained. "My trap didn't catch any prey." Bellstar blinked softly at Emma. "Take some prey from the fresh-kill pile." Emma blinked delightedly. "Really?" "You deserve it." "Thank you, Bellstar!" Emma bent down and hugged the leader briefly. She ran over to the fresh-kill pile and picked up a plump bird. She ran to her clearing, starting a fire and getting ready to cook it. She ma live with cats, but she didn't need to eat like one. Chapter 9 Bellstar was still working with her internal struggle. The twoleg had spirit, but none the less was a twoleg. She had to consult StarClan that day. She stood and padded out of her den into the next day's sunshine. she saw Berrytail sorting herbs inside his den, and padded over to him. "Berrytail, I must consult StarClan." She said. Berrytail didn't question why, just stood, put the herbs away, and found some traveling herbs. "We might as well take Purplepaw and Blazepaw. They'll be warriors soon." Emma woke up and stretched. She had almost finished her walls. She got up and ran to camp. On the way, she noticeed something out of the ordinary. The tree where she had set up the trap, there was something odd about it. She walked over it, and saw the cage had fallen. "Something in my trap." Emma said softly to herself. She ran over to the tree and looked into a gap in the cage. She saw a rabbit in it, clawing at the side of the cage. Emma smiled and ran to go get Berrytail or bellstar. Upon arriving at camp, she found that both Bellstar and Berrytail were gone. She sighed and looked around for another warrior. She found Featherfoot, and bbent down next to her. "Hey, Featherfoot, I want to show you something!" She said excitedly. Featherfoot, being a trusting, friendly, warrior, agreed to go with her happily. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the trapped rabbit. "This is so clever! It's a great way of hunting!" Featherfoot said excitedly. "Here, let it go and I'll catch it!" "Okay!" Emma grabbed the rope and pulled up the cage. The rabbit darted out, but Featherfoot caught up to it and killed it swiftly. "This so... brilliant!" she said, voice muffled through the rabbit's fur. "You should set it up again. It's not even cruel like most twoleg traps, because it doesn't even catch much or torture them." "yea, I guess." Emma said, happy to provide something good for the clan. she might yet be friends with the clan. Bellstar woke up from her dream. She didn't tell berrytail what she had seen, nor did he ask. She just turned, flicked her tail for the medicine cat and two apprentices to follow her, and left the Moonstone behind her. After they were a little over halfway home, Bellstar slowed to let Berrytail pad beside her. "The twoleg will stay for as long as possible, then she will have to leave. It may seem so, but it is not my descsion. It is fate's call, now." chapter 10 Bellstar jumped up onto Highrock, and called a Clan meeting. Emma, who was nearby playing with the kits, looked up at the sound of Bellstar's voice calling, "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, please join me beneath highrock!" emma didn't move, and Bellstar must have noticed this, as she added, "And all twoelgs who can catch their own prey, too." Emma smiled and crawled on hands and knees to join the crowd of cats. she noticed that none of the cats around her moved away, she'' had made some friends in the clan. "Blazepaw, Purplepaw, please step forward." Bellstar called. the apprentices jumped forward. "I, Bellstar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. Blazepaw, Purplepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your lives?" "I do." they both meowed at the same time. "Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior names: Blazepaw, from this moment you will be known as Blazefire. StarClan honors your bravery and strength, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan. Purplepaw, from this moment you will be called Purpledawn. StarClan honors your bravery and your strength, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." "Blazefire! Purpledawn! Blazefire! Purpledawn!" the clan cheered, even Emma. Later that night, Berrytail watched the sun go down. when all was dark and the moon shone down on the camp, he heard a rustling. He got up and followed the sound, throught he brambles as before. He found the same fur stuck in the brambles as before, only this was fresher. He padded into Emma's clearing, through the door as emma had finished the last wall. He briefly wondered what they would do with the clearing when Emma had left. He saw the same tortiseshell she-cat in there, sitting by the firepit. the fire inside was blazing, and the she-cat seemed absored in it's beauty. This time, he crouched by the door, hoping she would not notice him. He waited for a long time, the cat sitting in front of the fire. Then the she-cat lay down, curled in a ball, and fell asleep by the edge of the fire. Berrytail suddenly felt very tired, too. He wanted to fall asleep, too, but stayed awake. As soon as the moon felll beyond hte horizon and the sun rose, he was stricken by surprise. Before him, he saw the cat transform. Chapter 11 There was a flash-like thing, and the cat before Berrytail turned into Emma. Berrytail crept backwords and let the girl stay asleep. he ran back through the nearby bramble tunnel that led him right into a concealed 'back-door' to camp. He would confront his friend later, after a nice, long nap. He felt so tired after that long night awake. Bellstar blinked at the blazing sun above. Ah, how she loved Greenleaf. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the kits, rolling around the camp in a big play-fight. She purred with a small laugh, wishing she was still a kit, without a care in the world. she then glanced at the medicien cat den, wondering why Berrytail had come in late last night. She had heard him sneak into his den only an hour before dawn. She hoped it was nothing bad. Maybe she would go visit the twoleg, put her to work with hunting or such. She was about to get up and take the 'back-door' that lead right to Emma's Clearing,except she was interupted by someone yowling, "Watch out, Bellstar!" It was Snakefang who had yowled, but it was too late, as by the time Bellstar had heard him, she was on the ground. She sat up, annoyed at being knocked down, but he heart melted when she saw that the three kits were what had knocked her off her feet. the three kits were looking up at their leader, fear prickling at their pelts, but then they saw Bellstar's kind, green eyes. They had seen Bellstar's heart melt, and knew that she couldn't be mad at them. Their cuteness would fool even a Dark Forest warrior. "I'm sorry, Bellstar." Snowkit meowed, his little blue eyes twinkling. Bellstar's whiskers twitched. "just watch where you're going. make sure you don't crash into someone who doesn't have a heart next time." Bellstar turned the kits over to Bluefish, who scolded them and sent them to the nursery. Then she left through the back-door and padded the bramble path to Emma's Clearing. Chapter 12 Emma awoke, blinking sleep from her eyes. "I should go back to the Town. Humans don't belong in the forest, half cat or not." she whispered to herself. She got up, brushed herself off, and took time to wish she had a change of clothes. She'd been wearing the same clothes since... since she left her father a ''month ago! She ha dbeen a part of ThunderClan for a month, and that meant her birthday was coming up next week! She would be 17! Emma did a victory jump, pumping her fist in the air as she jumped. "What are you happy about?" came a voice. Emma turned around in shock to find Bellstar slipping through the hole in the wall. "I saw you jumping." "I'm going to be 17 next week!" she said, a huge smile crossing her face at the sight of one of her friends. "17 what?" Bellstar asked, crossign the clearing and sitting upon Emma's makeshift bed. "17 years old!" Emma laughed. "years?" bellstar titled her head to the side. "12 moons make up a year in the twoleg world. also, 4 seasons make up a year." "17!" bellstar exclaimed, eyes growing wide. "I knew twoelgs lived for a long time, but you no more than a child, and you're older than our elders!" "Twolegs usually live between 60 and 80 years." Said Emma, sitting in front of Bellstar. "enough of that, but why did you come to visit me?" Bellstar decided it was the time. She gave the twoelg a sharp, stern look and began. "I went to the Moonstone not long ago, to consult StarClan about you. They say that first you must leave, so I must obey. Now that I know your birthday is coming up, as that is something twolegs seem to celebrate, I will let you stay with ThunderClan until then. Of course, if you help us hunt." Emma's eye got watery, and she looked as though she was going to shout and cry at the same time. then she blinked and she was herself again. "Okay, I'd love to." she said, then got up and made to leavve through the twoleg entrance. One hole in the wall was the cat entrance, which was connected the bramble path and was how Berrytail and Bellstar kept getting in. but Emma had to use the bigger entrance to go in and out. Bellstar sighed as emma got up to leave. "You have to understand, Emma. It's not me who wants you to leave." Then Emma turned and glared crossly at Bellstar. This time, there were tears in her eyes that she could not blink away. "Then who is it?" she screamed at her. "You're choosing to follow StarClan, while others who disobey them have lived so happily! You are the one who wants me to leave ThunderClan, because if you wanted me here, you would have fought StarClan, you would ignore them! If you wanted me in ThunderClan, you would let me stay! " Chapter 13 What happened in Bellstar's dream: Bellstar woke up in a clearing, gazing at the sky. The stars glittered above, then a few drifted down and sat next to Bellstar. "The twoleg is more than a twoleg, Bellstar." one she-cat meowed. she was white with gray tabby patches. "ThunderClan needs that twoleg, you need that twoleg. Emma cannot return to Twolegplace, or at least not permneatly. If she were to never come back to ThunderClan, all would die." "What do you mean?" Bellstar asked, stepping forward worridley. "I mean," said the she-cat. "that sometimes cats and Twolegs will work together. Without Emma, ThunderClan will die. Emma will stop the murderer, and ThunderClan will live in peace once more." "But-but" Bellstar stammered. "Does that mean Emma must stay in ThunderClan? What if the other clans find out?!" "Calm, Bellstar." meowed the tom that had been lurking nearby, silent. he was pure black with bright green eyes, exactly like Bellstar's. "The answer i ssimple. You must send the twoleg away. the only way she can save ThunderClan, is if you make her leave. It may not make sense now, but it will later." "None of this makes any sense, Blackrain!" Bellstar snapped at her dead brother. "Fogcloud, Blackrain, you have to be kidding me! StarClan cannot make me get rid of the savior of ThunderClan! I cannot let my Clan die!" there were tears in Bellstar's eyes, and she was yowling at her littermates. "Bellstar, hush." Fogcloud ran her tail across her sister's muzzle. "you have to trust me. Don't you trust your dear sister?" Bellstar opened her eyes to find that Emma had run away in anger while she was lost in memories. "I make you leave, Emma." she said to absent twoleg. "Because i trust my sister." Chapter 14 Emma ran to camp after her tears dried. she found Berrytail asleep in his den. She climbed into the medicine cat clearing and shook him awake. "Berrytail! Wake up now!" When Berrytail protested, saying he wanted to sleep longer, Emma picked him up and carried him away from camp. "what do you want, Emma?" Berrytail wriggled out of her arms, curling his tail angrily around his paws when he landed on the ground. "Bellstar's sending me away!" Emma cried. "But I have nowhere to go!" "It's okay, Emma." Berrytail meowed, voice softening when he noticed his friend was worried, and scared. "I'm sure someone will ake you in." "The only place I could go would be an orphanage!" Emma exclaimed, sinking to her knees. "And there's no way in the world anyone would adopt a 17 year old!" "17?!" Berrytail exclaimed. Emma sighed and explained what she said to Bellstar earlier. "How about we throw you a birthday celebration, then you leave?" "That's what Bellstar said." Emma sighed. "I'm going to miss all of ThunderClan when I leave. Maybe i'll go live in anothe rtown, or maybe i'll just move into some happy family's house." Berrytail rubbed against her legs in affection. "I'm going to miss you, ya know." he meowed, his throat closing up. "i'm going to miss you too." emma bent dwn and picked up Berrytail, hugging him to her shoulder. Emma was roasting a fish caught by the river on the edge of her fire. all her food was scorched, and the one thing she was looking forward to with going back to the twolegplace was that she would be able to eat twolegfood again. The kits rna into Emma's clearing, followed by Bluefish, featherfoot, lionfish, snakefang, purpledawn, Blazefire, Sunspeckle, Braveclaw, Shakenpelt, Barenland, Berrytail, and Bellstar. "We're here, Rosekit!" Yellowkit meowed, happy to see her friend. then her face got serious. "Are you really leaving after this?" "I'm sorry, but I am." Emma sighed, picking up Yellowkit in one hand. She petted the kit softly then set her down next to her sister and brother. Bellstar padded over to Emma and sat next to her. "I'm sorry about you leaving, but it's not right for a twoleg to be in ThunderClan," she meowed, looking up at Emma in her bright, green eyes. "but if i could let a twoleg into this clan, I would choose you." Emma frowned at Bellstar, then patted her ginger head. "I know. thanks for letting me stay this long. I'll miss you, and the rest of ThunderClan." "And all of ThunderClan will miss you." Bellstar meowed, then, "We might as well start the festivites." Chapter 15: Finale Emma gathered up all the blankets around her clearing, except for the roof. She thought she would leave it, and it could be a safe place for the kits, and future kits of thunderclan, to play safely. Eagles couldn;'t get them from above, and foxes and badgers would have to tunnel to get in. Bellstar thought it was a good idea, too, so they dragged sticks and rock and bits of moss in for a big playground. Emma was about to go, when she heard a rustle behind her. She saw Berrytail, holding something in his jaws. He spoke to her, voice muffled throught he thing, "the whole Clan is gathered to say goodbye to you." He meowed. "they'r eby the twoleg garden." Then lead the way. Emma saw the whole of ThunderClan stadnign before her, even the kits. The whole clan had come to trust her, after all. a moon ago, before emma had come, if you had asked any of the cats in ThunderClan, "would you ever be friends with a twoleg?", they would think you'd ate some rotten crow-food. But now, they were sad to see emma go. "Goodbye, twoleg." Barenland meowed, bowing his head. "If you were a cat, you would have made a great warrior, and we wouldn't be saying farewell." "We'll miss you, Rosekit." Yellowkt meowed, throat closed. the kits looked morose, and not hyper, for once. Bellstar gazed up into Emma's eyes, and meowed, "We'll all miss you terribly. I wish you could stay." "I'll miss all of you so much!" emma said sincerely, petting every cat in turn. Then, standing in front of all of ThunderClan, she felt tears run down her face. Berrytail stepped forward. He held up a dry, purple flower. "I figured out how to preserve it in some berry juice." he meowed (this isn't really possible, dont try it :P). "It's to remember ThunderClan while you're gone." "Thank you so much." she said, then turne dto walk away. "Goodbye, thunderClan!" the clan all murmured goodbye, and Emma walked away. Bellstar turned around and meowed, "Seh'll be abck. And when she's back, we'll be ready for camp repairs." Emma walked up to a random house. she knocked on the door, and a pretty woman opened the door. She must have been 35 years old. "and who are you?" she asked in a kind voice. "I'm lost." she said, trying her best to sound pitiful. "My father just disappeared, so i ran away, and now i have no idea where i am. I don't have money or anything with me, do you think you could take me into your home until i come of age?" "How old are you?" she asked, sounding worried. "I'm 17, just turned 17 today." "I'll file a report to the police, come in." Emma entered and sat a ta table inside. the woman turned to Emma, picking up a phone. "What's your name, girl?" Emma thought. She kept hearing the goodbyes of thunderClan, then remembered the kits' nickname for her. "Rose." She said, smiling. "Rose Thunder." The End Category:Warrior Cat Fanfic Category:Fanfic Category:Spottedstar42 Fanfic